whaler11
Head Happy Hour Coach
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UConn has enough academic lure to have students overlook such costs. But with the economy being as it is, have to wonder how small private schools will fare. If some don't fare well, wouldn't that create a larger potential student pool for Akron and Bowling Green?
I guess that might happen. How about the backlash when students are paying $1k a year and athletes are drawing $3-5k in cash?
Assuming the data is correct, the numbers illustrate how silly it is to suggest that downgrading football to FCS or putting it in the MAC would save UConn tons of money. Akron, Kent State, Miami U, and Ohio University all have substantial subsidies. For UConn, any savings generated by a downgrade would largely be offset by lost revenue in ticket sales, marketing revenue and yes, even TV dollars. The lion's share of these expenses don't go away, which is illustrated in the data.
If UConn football starts winning again the gap narrows. If UConn gets an invite from a P5 conference it eventually gets in the black. Neither happen if we were to follow the downgrade logic put forth by a handful of posters on this board.
I've seen internal analysis that shows your hypothesis isn't true. When a certain MAC school upgraded football to D1 a decade ago, it's overall athletic budget tripled within 3 years. TRIPLED. From $7.5m a year to $23m. Look at Rhode Island's total athletic budget. It's still very small.
For some reason, football is incredibly costly at the D1 level.
There appears to be a big difference between D1 and D1AA. It could be coaches pay, an extra 70 scholarships (you have to double them for Title9), more tutors, support, trainers, stadiums, facilities, etc. Whatever it is, you can do lower kinds of football for a fraction of the cost.
I'm not saying this is true for UConn. It differs at every school, and it largely depends on ticket sales and marketing. For most schools, staying in D1 is very very costly. There is a savings by dropping down.
On the other hand, I will note that schools like Boston U., Northeastern, Hofstra, most of the Cal. State schools, have dropped football rather than drop a division. That's pretty telling as well.
Why do colleges overpay the administrators as if they bring something special to the school?
Einstein brought something special to Princeton. The administrators can be replaced daily for the next hundred years with no loss of efficiency. So, cut their salaries in half.
I've seen internal analysis that shows your hypothesis isn't true. When a certain MAC school upgraded football to D1 a decade ago, it's overall athletic budget tripled within 3 years. TRIPLED. From $7.5m a year to $23m. Look at Rhode Island's total athletic budget. It's still very small.
For some reason, football is incredibly costly at the D1 level.
There appears to be a big difference between D1 and D1AA. It could be coaches pay, an extra 70 scholarships (you have to double them for Title9), more tutors, support, trainers, stadiums, facilities, etc. Whatever it is, you can do lower kinds of football for a fraction of the cost.
I'm not saying this is true for UConn. It differs at every school, and it largely depends on ticket sales and marketing. For most schools, staying in D1 is very very costly. There is a savings by dropping down.
On the other hand, I will note that schools like Boston U., Northeastern, Hofstra, most of the Cal. State schools, have dropped football rather than drop a division. That's pretty telling as well.
And he was overpaid.Careful what you wish for, one administrator at UConn shares a good portion of the blame with respect to the mess that UConn is in - Jeff Hathaway.
Actually, I think your post supports my hypothesis. All the schools I listed are part of the MAC, so joining the MAC would do little to save UConn money. In fact it would likely lose money. Downgrading to FCS does save more money, some real and some on paper, but it also erodes revenue. Do you think Nike still contributes millions of dollars and gear for an FCS school? I doubt it. In my post, I considered suggesting that the only way to really save money is to eliminate football altogether, but didn't want to give a select few posters the satisfaction. As far as URI, rumor has it, they are one of that are considering FBS. Why would they do that? UConn has made much of the investment required, so they may as well leverage it, at least for the foreseeable future. UConn football was "profitable" (note quotes) only a few years ago, and can close that gap with renewed success.
Why do colleges overpay the administrators as if they bring something special to the school?
Einstein brought something special to Princeton. The administrators can be replaced daily for the next hundred years with no loss of efficiency. So, cut their salaries in half.
Quite an eye opener there. LA-Monroe and LA-Lafayette may become memories.Has anyone seen what is going on at LSU? That school is about to implode. As a money maker, the football program wont be touched. But the school itself is going to declare bankruptcy this summer.
Quite an eye opener there. LA-Monroe and LA-Lafayette may become memories.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/r-kyle-alagood/lsus-possible-bankruptcy-_b_7149140.html
I don't think it will be a problem at a school like UCONN that gets 30,000 applications every year for 3600 freshman spots and plenty of kids transfering in every year.I think the conversation will change when you leave school with an extra 4-5k in debt and some classmates make $15-20k over their career.
It changes the dynamic especially at schools where no one gives a damn about the sports.
I don't think it will be a problem at a school like UCONN that gets 30,000 applications every year for 3600 freshman spots and plenty of kids transfering in every year.
How was UConn profitable? The whole point here is subsidies.
I think the conversation will change when you leave school with an extra 4-5k in debt and some classmates make $15-20k over their career.
It changes the dynamic especially at schools where no one gives a damn about the sports.